U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,052 discloses a system that, for the first time, provides for practical automatic vending of ice cream cones and the like. While the system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,052 is practical, there are certain problems associated therewith. One problem is the tendency for the cones or other containers to be misaligned or to become inverted during dropping of the cones from a stack into operative association with the delivery arm.
According to the present invention, the problem of cone misalignment or inversion that is inherent in the prior art has been eliminated by providing a simple, inexpensive cone guiding means located vertically between the stack of containers and the arm for guiding dropping of the containers into operative association with the arm so that the containers will not be misaligned or inverted during dropping and will be positively guided into operative association with the arm. The guide means generally includes a tubular member disposed below the stack and having the bottom end thereof disposed directly above a chute. The chute has a generally open top and has a primary container-guiding portion thereof extending downwardly from the tubular member and disposed at an obtuse angle with respect to the axis of the tubular member. The generally tubular member may have angled wall portions thereof formed on the side of the member axis from which the chute extends downwardly at the obtuse angle in order to insure that the tubular member will not interfere with the dropping movement of the cone once it engages the chute.
The chute container-guiding portion is preferably semi-circular in cross-section, having a diameter slightly greater than the greatest diameter of a container guided thereby. The clamping end of the container engaging arm is disposed below the chute as a continuation of the primary container-guiding surface thereof.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved machine for the automatic vending of ice cream cones or the like. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.